Two very good and very confident teams stepped onto the Blossom
Soccer Stadium field; two teams with contrasting styles: Ohio
Wesleyan preferring to work the ball on the ground with controlled
possession, Calvin wanting to attack quickly through the air using
speed and physicality. It didn’t take long for the game
to heat up, both sides coming out with lots of energy, trying to
establish the game to their liking.

In the third minute Calvin was given a free kick just inside the
Wesleyan half and the kick was sent into the area, but the Bishops
were able to clear. A minute later Calvin’s Chris Nance
was able to find Tyler Vegter with a centering cross from the right
side. Vegter headed the ball on frame but the Wesleyan keeper
Paul Hendricks was there to pull in the effort. Then it was
Ohio Wesleyan’s chance to test the goalkeeper when a well
taken free kick forced Michael Dolan to punch the ball over for a
corner.

In the 8th minute Calvin’s Lawrence Murray sent a long
ball over the defense to a streaking Nance who won a corner when
the Bishops clear the ball over the endline. Two minutes
later going the other way, Matt Bonfini raced down the middle off
the field into the box and squared the ball to Jon Stenger coming
in on the right. Stenger rounded the goalkeeper who had raced
off his line but three defenders had retreated to cover and
Stenger’s hard shot couldn’t find its way through, with
Murray blocking its entrance into the goal. Soon the danger
was back at the other end again, a Calvin corner kick being met by
a glancing header from Zach Willis at the near post that sent the
ball across the face of the goal to the back post, requiring a foot
save off the line to preserve the shutout.

It was a back and forth affair, but passing the 15 minute mark
Ohio Wesleyan began to ascend, putting Calvin on their heels for
much of the next 15 minutes. In the 21st minute the interplay
between the Bishop attackers as they worked the ball across the top
of the box was superb, but Stenger could not find his man heading
for the far post with his service across the area. The
few times Calvin did break the pressure they were quick to create
danger. In the 23rd minute it took an excellent sliding
tackle by Kit North to halt the surging run of Calvin’s
Willis whose speed gave the Bishops fits whenever Calvin could get
him service. After withstanding a few more waves of Bishop
pressure, Joe Broekhuizen was able to run down a ball in the left
corner and send a cross back into the box that the goalkeeper
claimed in the air.

Ohio Wesleyan was passing the ball around very well, but despite
all their possession that kept Calvin pinned back, the Knights were
doing well to prevent good looks on goal. In the 30th minute,
however, Ohio Wesleyan was banging on the door after a nice
exchange down the right flank freed Travis Wall on the endline to
cut the ball back to Dylan Stone entering the area.
Stone’s shot was blocked and cleared off to the left, falling
for Paulo Bucci to take another crack but his effort was also
blocked. After surviving that, Calvin began to see more of
the ball, moving the battle back into the midfield.

Both teams were playing their games when in possession, but
neither side was finding an opening once reaching the area.
That is, until the 39th minute. Bucci did well to maintain
possession as he neared the left endline and then chipped the ball
back towards the top of the box. A Calvin defender’s
attempted deflection did little to change the ball’s path and
Wall was eagerly awaiting it at the edge of the box. A quick
settling touch allowed him to hurriedly kick the ball to the bottom
right corner of the goal beyond the reach of Dolan. Ohio
Wesleyan had struck first.

They’d be at it again two minutes later when Bucci got the
ball on the left. He outran one defender, then cut insde on
another on the left edge of the box, and before anyone else could
close him down he sent a hard curling effort over the keeper and
into the far side netting. It was perfectly on target and
just like that a 0-0 game had become a 2-goal lead. And the
Bishops weren’t content. Sean Broekhuizen pushed the
ball out wide left to Matt Dodrill who chipped the ball back into
the area with Stone getting a head to is but at such a reach that
he couldn’t direct it downward and it popped high and
wide-right. It would remain 2-0 into the
interval.

Out of the break, Calvin seemed re-energized, being very active
while Ohio Wesleyan seemed subdued. The midfield battle was
being won by Calvin and Ohio Wesleyan was having to fall back into
defensive mode more than they had for much of the first half.
Seven minutes after the restart the Calvin pressure was
rewarded. Zach Willis’ run down the left side seemed to
have petered out, but he managed a centering pass to Travis Vegter
as he entered the area. Vegter, faced by a row of three
defenders, faked right, stepped left to find enough of an opening
to squeeze his hard driven shot through and into the far right
bottom corner of the goal.

Ohio Wesleyan was noticeably unsettled, showing uncharacteristic
impatience in possession as their short ground game went missing in
action. Hungry for the equalizer, Calvin had the Bishops on
the back heel two minutes later when Willis raced down the left
side and, nearing the endline, fired the ball dangerously across
the area, but a lunging Paul Hendricks was able to snag the ball
out of the air to end the danger. The game was end-to-end
with Ohio Wesleyan getting caught up in the frantic pace as they
rushed to the other end and won a corner. The kick was
initially cleared but sent back in to feet of Bonfini who, spite
being closed down by a pair of defenders, got shot off that
Dolan saved. A minute later Stenger took a shot from a
coupe steps outside the box on the right with Dolan saving
again.

More than 15 minutes passed before the Bishops finally started
to play their style some, but they would only do so inconsistently
throughout the period. It was shaping up to be a game of two
halves, and at the 20 minute mark Calvin came close to equalizing,
first with Travis Vegter’s hard shot from left to right that
could only be parried out for a corner, and then with Joe
Broekhuizen strong header which was disappointingly right at the
keeper.

Ohio Wesleyan celebrates
their title with their fans.
Photo for D3soccer.com by Emily Daum

Halfway through the second period Willis showed up on the right
wing to try a centering pass that was blocked back to him and this
time he delivered a cross that took all of keeper Hendrick’s
elevation and strength to grab as he was bundled into.
Minutes later Calvin served a promising the ball into the area but
a last second Bishop header averted the danger. The Knights
had another chance when a 75th minute cross fell in the area
and came to Willis, but in a crowded box he never got a clean
look. Ohio Wesleyan escaped 79th minute danger from a great
Calvin cross when the defender stepped in front of the intended
target at the last second to head away.

In the 83rd minute Ohio Wesleyan almost got an insurance
goal. They passed the ball left to right across the top of
the area from Bonfini to Bloecher to Stenger whose low shot to the
right Dolan could only parry out for a corner. As the clock
ticked down towards 4 minutes, Calvin’s Heethuis was fed the
ball behind the defense and his shot as he entered the area was too
hot for Hendricks to secure, but the spilled ball was quickly
cleared. Calvin’s last good chance to even the score
came with just over three to play when Travis Vegter glanced a ball
toward goal from the center of the box, but it flashed wide
off the right post. The last three minutes ran down and the
national championship belonged to Ohio Wesleyan for the second time
and Coach Jay Martin had more wins than any men’s college
soccer coach ever.

The Battling Bishops of Ohio
Wesleyan are the men's DIII national champions!
Photo for D3soccer.com by Emily Daum